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Rebels Struggle to Regroup Against Confident Regime

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Margaret Coker in Zawiya, Libya,

Charles Levinson in Ras Lanuf and

Sam Dagher in Tripoli

Updated March 12, 2011 12:01 a.m. ET

Col. Moammar Gadhafi's supporters celebrated the leader's tightened grip on much of western Libya, while rebel fighters in the east, showing signs of unraveling amid the chaos of the conflict, pulled back from the outskirts of a key oil town.

In a sign of the government's confidence, foreign journalists were allowed for the first time in two weeks to visit Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, which has been shut off from the outside world by telephone and Internet and by road.